Storm pounds region with feet of snow

DOVER — New Hampshire emergency officials monitored the coastline for signs of flooding Saturday as a severe blizzard dumped feet of snow on the region.

Local officials warned people to stay inside and off the roads as they worked to clear major roadways, during a weather system the Weather Channel named “Nemo.”

In the Rye and Hampton areas, responding crews struggled to repair a portion of the community’s seawall that broke around 10 a.m. in freezing weather conditions.

North Hampton police announced just before 11 a.m. they were closing Route 1A, also known as Ocean Boulevard, as high tide ripped through that area Saturday, from the Hampton town line to Rye. A storm surge pushed seawater and debris to the shore, knocking boulders and shale rock into the roadway, according to Rye Police Chief Kevin Walsh.

The National Weather Service said the surge was expected to be as high as 1 to 3 feet and waves out at sea were as high as 25 and 30 feet. Walsh said crews would be working to restore the seawall before 10:45 p.m., when high tide was expected to return. He noted water levels on the roadway were as deep as six inches.

Walsh also stressed the largest issue Saturday afternoon was keeping onlookers away from the scene. He also warned residents to clear off snow on their rooftops before expected rain Monday night weighed down heavy snow already on their homes.

Throughout the rest of the Seacoast and Tri-City, unofficial observations reported by the National Weather Service indicated 24 inches of snow had fallen in Hampton as of 6:28 a.m. Snowfall was more modest in the lakes region, where 14.7 inches of precipitation was recorded in Meredith by late afternoon. Additionally, after the snow stopped at about 3 p.m., meteorologists reported Seabrook received 29.3 inches while Greenland and York, Maine both had 21 inches.

The National Weather Service said 1 to 3 more inches of snow was expected to fall by the end of the day Saturday, with much of the snow accumulating the night before and in the morning. Wind gusts were at 30 to 40 miles per hour were expected to last until midnight.

Meteorologist Chris Legrow said Farmington had one of the highest snowfalls in the area, with 27 inches recorded around 10 a.m. Gorham was noted to have about 30 inches early afternoon ass well.

A mandatory evacuation went into place in Salisbury, Mass., though Legrow and Walsh said evacuations were not put into place in the Seacoast regions, as the storm moved east and appeared to lose steam by mid-afternoon. In Massachusetts, Gov. Deval Patrick also issued an emergency driving ban where some 30 stranded drivers Friday night could face up to $500 in fines and one year in jail. The ban was lifted at 4 p.m. that day.

In the Granite State, Gov. Maggie Hassan asked citizens to stay off the roads, though no official mandate was put into place.

“It will really help our plow crews if people stay off the roads and let them do their jobs so they can clean and treat the roads as quickly as possible,” she said.

Power outages

Widespread power outages were also reported in the northeast, but New Hampshire appeared to have been spared from some of the most damaging effects of the storm throughout New England. PSNH was reporting only 656 customers without power in the state as of 1:30 p.m. They were in Newbury, Bradford, Epsom, Deerfield and Northwood, where 358 customers were without power.

As of 5 a.m., approximately 100 Unitil customers on the Seacoast were without power, but electricity had been restored to all customers before noon. Work crews from as far away as Ohio and Michigan were called to New Hampshire to assist Unitil’s blizzard operations, assigned to bucket trucks, diggers, wires down teams and tree crews.

“As forecasted, there were blizzard-like conditions during the overnight hours,” Unitil Media Relations Manager Alec O’Meara said in a written statement Saturday. “Our crews are working with first responders to address any wires down issues and outages that may occur as strong winds are still forecasted for most of the day.”

Local incidents

Most police departments reported they were glad to see residents had for the most part listened to warnings and readied themselves to stay indoors for a majority of the weekend storm.

In Somersworth, officials said while there hadn’t been any accidents, a small chimney fire broke at around 6 p.m. Friday night on Kelwyn Drive. Somersworth Fire Lt. Mike Clough said crews used a special forestry truck with an attached snowplow to weather the storm that night, when only about 6 inches had fallen by then. Clough said there was minimal damage and the fire was contained to the chimney. He warned residents to keep their chimneys clean and maintained before use this winter.

Friday night, the Lebanon Rescue Department in Maine reported they had several accidents but only one had reported injuries. At 12:17 p.m., on Carl Broggi Highway near Old Ryefield Road, a car went off the road and at 5:37 p.m., a car went off the road, striking a pole and a wall near the Lebanon Transfer Station.

At 8:30 p.m., on Center Road, a truck became wedged between trees and a telephone pole after rolling on its side, according to Lebanon Rescue Department reports. Assistant Chief Jason Cole said there was no one on scene when crews arrived, but evidence showed someone was injured in that incident.

Approximately 22 inches of snow had fallen in Durham by late Saturday morning. Town Administrator Todd Selig said all state and local roads remained open, and no significant accidents had been reported, although one car slid off of Route 4.

Portsmouth police Sgt. Aaron Goodwin said there was a two-car crash with some property damage early Saturday morning at 4:25 a.m. at the Route 1 Bypass rotary circle. He said a wrecker vehicle and officials from the highway department were called into assist clearing snow so crews could remove the crashed cars from a snow bank. He said it was unclear at the time if there were any injuries in that incident.

“We had a few cars get stuck this morning,” Goodwin added, referring to the later portion of the morning, “but I think for the most part people have heeded the advice to stay home.”

Rochester police said while there had been no accidents, only a few cars off the road and they were continuing their citywide parking ban until 12 p.m. on Sunday.

Nearly all of Amtrak’s Downeaster passenger train service on Saturday was cancelled in light of the storm, and the U.S. Postal Service also closed their operations for the day. Train service is expected to resume today.

Foster’s staff writers Andrea Bulfinch and Jim Haddadin, as well as The Associated Press, contributed to this report.